6 Frame Comic Summaries

We’re asking you to take your favourite film and re-imagine it for us in the form of a comic, within a six-frame panel (download template files). That’s the whole film, condensed into six frames.

This is another beautiful, reductionist way to analyze a book, historical figure, era, epoch or movement. I don’t see much use for math but I could also see some science possibilities.

You could pair up with an art teacher or just do it on your own. I’d have a stable of activities1 similar to these and allow students the option to choose between them at various points.

Keep in mind, they don’t have to be drawn. Let them use photographs. They could even take their own pictures. The concept/framework is simple but don’t let it box you in.

This is the stuff I really like in history and English. It’s low work on the teacher, high processing on the students. Deciding what elements are essential is a task that requires a lot of understanding and critical thinking, then representing those ideas graphically is another level of processing.

I’m working on a history example but it’s taking too much time (and thought) to do well immediately.

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I’ve been interested in using this Garfield Minus Garfield site for a while. Here are a few ways I might use it. Instant creative writing prompt- Write a love poem to a wolverine. Or write a love poem from the perspective of a wolverine. Or simply write a love poem using the word “wolverine” at least onceBonus points for including a Red Dawn reference. The image matters. Having images like this always changed the quality and engagement I got from my students. And we have a vocabulary exercise, in this case, for the word consume. Depending on where the student is at, they could match words to provided comics, find their own comics matches etc. I’d probably have them find their own matching comic and create a sentence along the lines of “Though Jon consumed the socks, the meal did not quench the fiery passion in his heart.” If you feel like really making your students work, you might white out all the words and have them use the comic of your choice to explain something complicated or leave the words in and ask them to provide the context that will make it make sense. For instance- this comic re-worded could become . . . a look at King George III’s thoughts on the American coloniesIf students don’t have image […]

Survival guides have some interesting potential for a variety of historical and literary analysis needs. This idea was jump started by the Brighid Survival Manual which was found via Super Punch. Here’s a quick example for the Witch in The Wizard of Oz. I’ll see if time allows me to make one for a Jamestown colonist. The problem is that these take a good bit of time and effort if they’re going to be good. That’s great in a project but it does make it harder on me. Anyway, lots of English and history applications. It’d be fun to write survival guides for self-destructive historical or literary figures- maybe Edgar Allen Poe or Custard.

Comments on this post

My father always said that good activities for your children wear them out without taxing you at all. As a result my sister and I did a lot of running around, climbing, and such while he directed. His strategy never hit us until adulthood.

I think you’ve hit on the parallel idea for teachers. Good ideas are low work for us and really push the students. Brilliant.

This reminds me of a quiz form I downloaded from the Making Curriculum Pop Ning. It’s called the “Cartoon Did You Read Quiz,” and the students draw a six-paneled cartoon that depicts one (or more than one) scene from the reading. On the reverse, students share a quote from the reading that they found interesting, problematic, or important and explain why they selected that quote. I have given the quiz. Students loved it (I was told it was the “funnest quiz” ever), and they do really well. Plus I can tell they did their reading. And what’s more, they had to think about the material (process) a lot more than on a standard five-question quiz.

I am a student teacher and much of my time is spent trawling the internet for fresh ideas.I teach key skills and student motivation is often low.I used the comic book template in conjunction with an excerpt from a science fiction quick read book and asked the students to create ” what happens next?” in comic book form. It was the best session I’ve had with them.They were engaged and reviewing their work promoted discussion on equal opportunities,stereotyping and racism.Thank you – great site